Catholic leaders are raising renewed concerns for Christians in the Holy Land following the closure of the West Bank’s last fully Christian village and a separate act of vandalism at a Catholic church in Israel.
The developments come amid reports of growing harassment, intimidation and attacks affecting Christian communities and sacred sites in both Israel and the West Bank.
Bishop James Curry, the lead bishop for the Holy Land for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, criticized the Israeli military’s decision to declare Taybeh a “closed military zone,” according to LifeSiteNews.
Taybeh, a predominantly Christian Palestinian village in the West Bank with approximately 1,500 residents, has faced repeated reports of settler violence and intimidation. The Israeli military has said the closure is intended to address attacks against residents, but Curry questioned whether restricting access to the village would accomplish that goal.
“I was deeply alarmed to hear that Taybeh has been declared a closed military zone prohibiting Israelis, foreign nationals, and journalists from entering,” Curry said in an Aug. 12 statement cited by LifeSiteNews. “It is claimed that this is designed to prevent attacks on residents by Israeli settlers, but it is far from clear that this move will achieve that objective.”
Curry warned that restricting entry could further burden Christians already struggling to remain in the historic community.
“The Israeli government must find a way of protecting the legitimate communities from settler violence whilst allowing citizens to go about their normal business,” he said. “This ban will lead to a vital loss of income from tourism and pilgrimages and, thereby, international scrutiny on the situation.”
The bishop said he personally witnessed the pressures facing Taybeh during a visit earlier this year as part of the Holy Land Coordination.
“The problem of settler intimidation is a very real one,” Curry said. “When I visited the village as part of the Holy Land Coordination in January, the community reported ongoing attacks and intimidation, a growing number of checkpoints and endless financial pressures.”
He added that some Christian families were leaving because they no longer believed they could safely raise their children there.
Curry grounded his appeal in the Church’s defense of the dignity of every human person, declaring, “The universal Church has been very clear on this – human dignity cannot apply to one person and not the other.”
According to LifeSiteNews, Christians in Taybeh have reported a series of attacks over the past year, including fires on agricultural land, vandalism, threats, armed intimidation and incidents affecting property near Christian holy sites. Local clergy have warned that continued insecurity could accelerate the departure of Christians from a community whose roots stretch back centuries.
Curry urged Catholics in England and Wales to advocate for the village and the wider Christian presence in the region.
“I urge Catholics across England and Wales to stand in solidarity with the people of Taybeh,” he said. “Please write to your Member of Parliament asking them to consider and act on the situation in Taybeh as well as in the wider West Bank.”
“The Christian presence in the Holy Land is a vital part of the region’s DNA and has survived for more than 2,000 years,” Curry continued. “It would be a tragedy for Palestinians and Israelis alike if it were to disappear altogether.”
Concerns over the treatment of Christians have also been heightened by a separate incident inside Israel.
According to LifeSiteNews, Israeli police arrested a man in his 20s on suspicion of vandalizing St. Anthony of Padua Church in Jaffa, Tel Aviv. Police reportedly responded Sunday morning after receiving a report of damage and discovered smashed religious statues and broken crosses inside the Latin-rite Catholic church.
Authorities identified a local suspect and took him into custody for questioning, according to the report.
The church belongs to the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and serves the area’s Catholic community.
The vandalism comes amid broader documentation of harassment against Christians. According to figures from Israel’s Religious Freedom Data Center cited by LifeSiteNews, 83 acts of harassment against Christians were documented across 76 incidents between April and June 2026.
The organization reported that spitting at or on Christians was the most frequently documented form of harassment, accounting for 47 incidents. Other reported cases involved verbal abuse, threatening behavior, physical attacks and property defacement. Nearly 90 percent of the documented incidents occurred in Jerusalem, particularly around the Old City.
The same data cited by LifeSiteNews indicates an increase in documented incidents in recent years, from 107 in 2024 to 181 in 2025, with 120 already recorded by the middle of 2026.
Church leaders have repeatedly warned that insufficient accountability can contribute to an atmosphere in which anti-Christian hostility is allowed to grow.
Against that backdrop, Christians in Taybeh have continued appealing to the universal Church not to forget them.
Father Bashar Fawadleh, the local parish priest, told Vatican News that Christians simply want to live alongside their neighbors “in peace, with justice and dignity,” according to LifeSiteNews.
“I invite every Catholic diocese worldwide to speak out about the situation here, to talk about these Christian brothers and sisters who are living in terror,” he said. “The birthplace of the Christian community must not vanish into silence. Together, we can preserve this living testament of faith.”
The situation has also drawn attention from Pope Leo XIV. During his August 16 Angelus address, the Pope appealed for an end to violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank and called on the international community to pursue a lasting political solution.
“I renew my appeal for an end to the ongoing violence against the Palestinian civilian population in the West Bank,” Pope Leo said, “and I urgently call on the international community to work toward advancing the two-state solution, for a just and lasting peace.”
For Catholics, the mounting concerns extend beyond individual acts of vandalism or intimidation. They raise a larger question about whether ancient Christian communities will be able to remain in the land where Christianity was born.
As Curry warned, the disappearance of that Christian presence would represent a profound loss not only for the Church, but for the entire Holy Land.
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